Last hurrah for Williams Harbour at 2016 Labrador Winter Games

The small town of Williams Harbour is marking a bittersweet milestone at the 2016 Labrador Winter Games: this could be the last time the community has a team in the event.

Residents voted last year to take a resettlement package from the province, so competitors will be representing their hometown for what will likely be the last time.

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"This is our last chance to represent and we want to do it good, we want to go out with a bang," Bill Larkham said.

No matter where I go, my heart is always back in Williams Harbour.- Kim Russell

Larkham, who co-ordinates the Williams Harbour team, left the community in 2001 to get his fishing master certificatethe Marine Institute in St. John's.

He now lives and works in Happy Valley-Goose Bay like many others from Williams Harbour, including every member of the community's team.

About 11 people live in Williams Harbour year round, but athletes can compete under a community's banner as long as they have competed for that town before.

"I actually spent 12 winters away from Williams Harbour," said Clifford Russell. "I still live there. In the summer I go back and fish from Williams Harbour, I've still got a home there."

Russellis competing in both the Labrathon which tests competitors' abilities to live off the land like previous generations of trappersand the snowmobile race.

The Labrador Winter Games are a bit of a family affair for Russell.

"My sister's competing in the snowmobile race and so [is] my son for their first games," he said.

"It probably could be the last ones, but it's nice to see us all get together."

'It's like a big family'

But considering the team itself has nearly as many members as the community has permanent residents, Russell believes resettlement is what's best for the Williams Harbour.

It's not like a community it's like a big family.- Bill Larkham

"I knows nobody wants to leave but there's nothing being done there," he said.

"There's a lot of things needs to be done in the community, the water system and the wharf, everything needs to be kept up. It seems like there's nothing being done back there, it'd be better for the people now to get what they can and try to get a home elsewhere."

Kim Russell moved away from Williams Harbour six years ago.

She now lives in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, and is training to compete in snowshoeing and snowmobiling.

Russell said she's proud to be competing in the Labrador Winter Games under the Williams Harbour banner.

"No matter where I go, my heart is always back in Williams Harbour," she said.

It's a sentiment Larkham feels, as well.

"We do have a lot of pride in our community and I guess that's like a lot of small communities, it's not like a community it's like a big family," he said.

"That's going to be the worst thing about it because all that family's going to be spread around everywhere when the community is gone."